CSC 335 Programming Languages Assessment

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CSC 335 Programming Languages Assessment

• Coordinator Dave Powell

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Course Goals

•  Provide the tools necessary for the critical
  evaluation of existing and future programming
  languages.
• Understand the concepts underlying the design and
  use of programming languages.

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Learning Objectives

• Summarize the evolution of programming languages
  illustrating how this history has led to the
  paradigms available today.
• Understand and use three programming languages
  including Java, C and Scheme.
• Design, implement and test a team developed
  program in an object oriented language. Note
  object oriented class and inheritance concepts
  were key department goals for year.
• Justify the philosophy of object-oriented design
  and the concepts of encapsulation, abstraction,
  inheritance and polymorphism.
• Describe how the class mechanism supports
  encapsulation and information hiding.
• Compare and contrast the notions of overloading
  and overriding methods in an object oriented
  language.
• Outline the strengths and weaknesses of the
  functional programming paradigm.
• Design and code programs using functional
  paradigm.
• Describe each of the elementary data types.
• Explain the concept of abstract data type.
• Evaluate the impact of different typing regimes
  on language design and language usage.
• Explain the importance of formal semantics.
• Describe the different approaches to formal
  semantics.
• Apply common methods for elicitation and analysis
  to produce a set of software requirements for a
  small-medium size software system.
• Create and specify the software design for a
  small-medium size software product using a
  software requirements specification and
  appropriate design notation.
• Red are objectives assessed for Fall 2002

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Assessment 1 - Passed

• Learning Objective Design, implement and test a
  team developed program in an object oriented
  language.
• Assessment metric Graded deliverables of Project
  plan, requirements specification, uml design
  document and implementations in C and java.
  Faculty invited to final presentations
• Assessment objective 80 percent
• Assessment score 100 percent
• Evaluation Class used Construx templates for
  software development plan and requirements
  specification. These worked well. Key point is to
  allow a review and revise cycle for students to
  get it right. Visio used for UML diagram. Linux
  or Windows version of C and Java allowed. The
  project emphasized object oriented techniques
  along with software engineering. The later is an
  area that the department does not have a separate
  course in and this course provides needed
  exposure.
• Projects Phoenix Five Card, Vehicle Database,
  Grade Wizard, MineSweeperX, Softball ERA and BA.

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Assessment 2 - Passed

• Learning Objective Describe how the class
  mechanism supports encapsulation and information
  hiding.
• Assessment metric Final Exam - question number
  10
• Assessment objective 80 percent
• Assessment score 100
• Evaluation All three students got question
  correct.

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Assessment 3 - Passed

• Learning Objective Design and code programs
  using functional paradigm.
• Assessment metric Graded homework to correctly
  code solutions in Scheme to three recursive
  problems.
• Assessment objective 80 percent
• Assessment score 90 percent
• Evaluation The assignment validated that
  students obtained working knowledge of functional
  paradigm.

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Other Assessment Comments

• Taught C for three weeks.
• Assessed knowledge of C by giving the AP C
  exam.
• Results were only fair. 72 percent achieved on
  multiple choice section. Desired result was 80
  percent.
• Joel Hollingsworth requested more emphasis on
  procedural aspect of C and use of malloc,
  printf and scanf instead of streams to better
  prepare for CSC 441
• Evaluation The Lippman book is a good reference
  but much too deep for learning the basics of the
  language. Need a different text next semester.

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Miscellaneous

• Software C, Java, Scheme, Emacs, Visio 2002
• Hardware Intel Pentium running Microsoft 2000.
• Project Required Yes. There is a semester long, 
  team project to develop a user defined
  application. 
• Presentation Required Yes.
• Expected Knowledge from Previous Course Either
  C or Java from CSC 130 Inheritance and
  polymorphism from CSC 230

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ACM Model Curriculum

• TextbooksConcept of Programming Languages,
  Sebesta, Chapter and Sections to be covered
  1-15 C Primer, 3rd Edition, Lippman  
• ACM Topics
• PL1 - Overview of programming languages (2)
• PL2 - Virtual machines (1)
• PL3 - Introduction to language translation (2)
• PL4 - Declaration of Types (3)
• PL5 - Abstraction of Mechanisms (3)
• PL6 - Object Oriented Programming
• SE3 - Software tools and environments
• SE4 - Software processes
• SE5 - Software requirements and specifications
  (4)
• SE8 - Software project management (3)